From Swiss Pat. No. 574,144 and the corresponding British Pat. No. 1,502,460, there has become known an apparatus for the cashless payment for goods or services, which employs payment means on which three are arranged markings, on several parallel tracks at a predetermined spacing from one another, which markings may be similar or different from one another. A transport mechanism not further described in detail moves the payment means past a reading head, and an erasing head. The transport means is stopped as soon as a valid marking is sensed below the reading head, and the payment or credit means is devalued by a unit in which the corresponding marking is erased. The arrangement of the markings spaced at a distance from one another has the disadvantage, that as a result of the vacant spaces between the individual markings, a portion of the available storage surface remains unused, so that the storage capacity of the payment means is inefficiently utilized.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,367 there has become known payment means, in which each value unit is defined by two holograms. The hologram pairs are spaced at a distance from one another.
From German Pat. DE - OS No. 24 41 939 there has become known a code plate for characterizing objects. Each bit of information stored in the code plate is defined by a sequence of colors.
From German Pat. DE - OS No. 27 31 727, corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 913,222 of the Assignee of the instant application, there has become known a card using an information track, and a timing track. The timing track is formed by three types of markings, which follow one another without the occurrence of any gap.
Although it is therefore possible for the markings to follow one another without the occurrence of any gap, and to use an edge, or a separate starting mark of the payment means, as a local reference, to locate the erasing position, this would require a mechanically expensive transport device, which would be required to operate without any play, and to advance in steps of predefined lengths to avoid any malpositioning, and therefore any erroneous devaluations, or cancellations. If the payments means shrinks as a result of heat or the like applied thereto, it is still possible that malpositioning of the payment means may occur.
It is finally conceivable to provide a separate timing track, with the aid of which erasing positions can be located, and where the timing signal serves as a local reference. This does, however, require additional space on the payment means, increases the cost of manufacturing of the payment means, and also requires an additional reading head, inclusive of the associated electronic detection circuitry, for interrogating or scanning the markings on the payment means, serving as a timing reference.